


Dancing On My Own

by lightrock105



Series: A Miraculous World [12]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is a popular dude, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Gen, Lila is a beotch, Model Adrien Agreste, Mutual Pining, Office Party, Platonic adrinette, So is Chloe, almost there, and he really wants to dance with her, and kagami, basically everyone hates Marinette, even tho she just wants to dance with Adrien, like so close, nearly romantic Adrinette, not quite established yet, there's more than just the office party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 19:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30043923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightrock105/pseuds/lightrock105
Summary: Marinette goes to her first office party at Gabriel's, the annual exclusive Christmas party, and hopes to dance with Adrien. Only, she underestimates just how many other girls want to do that too and are also vying for his attention.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste & Lila Rossi, Adrien Agreste & Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Chloe Bourgeois, Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Kagami Tsurugi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Lila Rossi
Series: A Miraculous World [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863928
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	Dancing On My Own

Marinette squealed when she got the email inviting her to the Gabriel Christmas Party. She heard that only the employees who were deemed essential got invitations.

 _Which means_ , Marinette thought with an excited shiver, _Adrien is going to be there!_

Marinette had had the most embarrassingly large crush on the boss's son ever since she accidentally bumped into him six years ago at the start of her internship. She was nearly late (on her first day! What a classic Marinette move) and had literally run into him, spilling coffee all over the both of them. She apologized profusely, praying he wouldn't fire her on the spot. Imagine her surprise when he burst out laughing and told her it was no big deal and that he would pay for her coffee the next day, providing she didn't spill that one too. She blushed deeply and knew right then that one day, she was going to love him.

Which she did. So embarrassing.

They talked quite frequently, seeing as she was one of the head designers and he was the face of the company. He would drop by her office and give her coffee or a croissant if she was staying late (which she tended to do more often than not). Sometimes he would sit on the edge of her desk and ask about the design process or her thoughts on the latest trends (her angry rants on neck ruffles had him laughing for a good five minutes). Once she told him she liked it when men wore purple and the next day she saw him stride into the office wearing a royal purple shirt and lavender boots. She thought she might faint.

 _I'm finally going to do it_ , she promised herself as she checked the box on the invitation saying she would be coming alone, and sent it back. _I'm going to ask him out on a date...or at least ask him to dance. Yeah. Baby steps. That's not too much, is it?_

Letting out another squeal, she forced herself to focus on getting done with her newest dress design, hoping to finish it off before she had to leave for the night. The office closed at two in the morning, and it was quickly approaching midnight. She had a little over two hours to finish the design that had been bothering her all week. No matter what she did, it always just looked a little bit wrong. She tried adjusting the length, changing the hue, adding sequins, putting a ribbon around the waist, making the neckline deeper, making the neckline higher, adjusting the sleeve length. Every time she changed something, she ended hating it more and more.

Frustrated, she balled up the newest design and attempted to throw it in the trash. Instead, she watched horrified as it bounced off Adrien's head and landed on the floor next to him. He looked up at her with an amused smirk and she flushed a deep red, almost as deep as the dress she was trying to make.

"I know you're mad, but you don't have to take it out on me," he said jokingly. Marinette whined and put her head in her hands. Laughing, Adrien picked up the paper and walked over to her, uncrumpling the sheet and flattening it out on the desk. He looked at it for a few seconds before placing his hand on her shoulder, making her lift her head up and look at him.

"Mari, what's wrong with this design? It looks just fine to me." He watched as her face fell and knew he said something wrong.

"Fine? It only looks fine?" Tears started to well up in her eyes and he started to panic.

"Um, no I mean, it looks wonderful. Um, best dress I've ever seen." Her lip started to wobble and he sighed. He dragged a chair over from a nearby desk and sat down next to her.

"Marinette, tell me what's wrong. What are you pushing yourself so hard lately?" She sniffed a few times before wiping under her eyes.

"I keep getting reminders from Natalie saying that your father expects this dress to beat everything else in the winter season. I'm so stressed and so worried about getting it right that everything I do make just looks wrong." She pulled out a stack of papers from a drawer in her desk and showed them to Adrien, who started to flip through them. They were clearly all the same dress, just with slight variations, but there had to be at least thirty here. He put the stack on the desk and look at her with worry.

"Marinette, is this why you've been staying until the building closes every single day this week? You've been pushing yourself too hard!" he scolded. She just shrugged and grabbed another piece of paper to begin another design.

"It needs to be perfect," she muttered and she started to outline the dress. Determination flowed through Adrien as he grabbed the pencil out of her hand, causing Marinette to squeak in protest.

"Hey!" she cried, trying to reach for the pencil. Unfortunately for her, Adrien was much taller than her, and thus, has much longer arms than she did. He held the pencil far away from her, grinning widely as she tried to reach for it. Giving up, she shrugged and just took another pencil from the cup on the corner of her desk. Scoffing, Adrien grabbed that one too.

"Hey, let me work!" she cried out.

"No!" he said stubbornly, shoving her chair away from the desk and sliding into its spot. Marinette watched helplessly as Adrien doodled on the paper that was supposed to be her thirty-fourth draft.

"Wait-no-hey, c'mon now. Adrien, what are you doing?" He turned to face her and smiled smugly. "I'm doing your work for you. You've been working too hard and you can't stop and step away to see the bigger picture anymore. You need a new set of eyes, and I'm going to be that for you." Marinette simply rolled her eyes and walked away, pouting. She knew him well enough that he wouldn't give up, so she just let him do whatever he wanted to do for now. She needed more coffee.

By the time she got back to her desk, Adrien was sitting proudly on top of it, holding a paper and bouncing in place. She traded the second cup of coffee in her hands for the paper and glanced down at it.

Then did a double-take at the dress that was drawn onto it.

Instead of the attempted red and white dress she had been going for, inspired by Mrs. Claus, she found a beautiful forest green dress with gold accents across the neckline. It was knee-length, shorter in the front and longer in the back, with angel sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. Gasping, she looked up at Adrien.

"You...you...oh my god, it's beautiful. I can't even- _thank you so much_." Adrien merely shrugged but gave her a proud smile.

"I told you. You just needed a second pair of eyes. I know that a lot of the other pieces are red and white, but my father wanted this one to stand out so I changed the color. The rest I just pulled from what you had already drawn. I may not be a fashion designer, but I did grow up around my father and clothes. I know what looks good." Adrien checked his watch and cringed. "I have an early morning photoshoot, so I need to head out now." He gave her a warning look before continuing. "If I find out you were here until closing, I'm going to revoke your croissant privileges for a week." Marinette choked out a laugh before mock saluting. Putting down her coffee and the drawing, she flung her arms around his neck.

" _Thank you_ ," she whispered in his ear, squeezing him tightly. She didn't see the blush that spread up his neck and to his cheeks.

* * *

Gabriel was extremely pleased with the dress and suggested that she be the one to sew the first one. He even hinted that he would like to see it at the Christmas party.

Marinette walked out of his office feeling like she was on cloud nine. She bounced her way down the hall and into the sewing room, only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw Lila Rossi sitting at her station twirling a needle between her fingers. She looked up when she noticed Marinette was staring at her.

"Ah, Marinette. Just the _girl_ I wanted to see." Marinette forced back a scowl and pretended to ignore her, but it was hard when the she-devil was sitting on her desk. Giving up, she sighed and faced the brunette.

"What do you want, Lila?" Lila slid off the desk and whipped around to face Marinette, a hard glare on her face. Marinette almost blinked in shock at the animosity, but as she was so used to it by now, she didn't let it phase her.

"I want you to give me the dress."

Feigning confusion, she answered with, "What dress?" Lila yanked a paper off the desk and shoved it in Marinette's face. She took a step back from the force and pulled it away from her face to see it. It was one of the earlier drafts of the dress, a rather ugly red color with a huge, fluffy, white collar, and big silver sequins dotting the hem. There were little silver bells along the poofy sleeves and a giant white bow on the butt. It was by far Marinette's least favorite version of the dress; it was far too gaudy and over-the-top for her taste.

"I want you to make me the new head of the winter line. I want this dress! Once everyone sees just how amazing I look in it, they're all going to love me and want me to model for them. Adrien will be mine. And if you don't make it for me, I'm going to tell Gabriel that you're giving out precious designs. How else could I have come across this dress?" She fake pouted in Marinette's direction and it took all of her self-control not to burst out laughing. Lila had come across the design because it wasn't the final one. Not even close. But she wasn't going to tell her that. She'd make the awful dress and wear the real one herself. 

Instead, she shrugged and carefully put the design down on the table, shooing Lila out the door. "Sure, whatever you want. Goodbye."

Lila stood outside the door, watching Marinette go get the fabric from the rack. Satisfied, she turned around and walked away, muttering, "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. Stupid girl. I'm going to be the belle of the ball and she's going to be stuck wearing some ugly, last season dress. Adrien is going to be mine."

* * *

Marinette finished Lila's dress in record time, leaving her with just enough time to finish the bodice and sleeves of her dress. She chose a green that would suit her skin tone and a lovely bright gold to match. As she was putting away the scrapes and supplies, the door behind her flew open. Startled she turned around, only to calm down when she saw it was only Adrien.

"You scared me! The least you could do is open the door with a little less flair," she teased. Adrien was about to respond before he saw the dress.

"Oh wow. Is that it?" He pointed to the mannequin and walked over to it. He circled it and looked closely at the design. Not only was it beautifully crafted, but he could see little dark green snowflakes sewn into the fabric. He knew that the workshop didn't own any fabric of this type, so he knew that Marinette stitched each little snowflake herself. He was so incredibly proud of her but held back the compliments until he had seen the finished product.

"Yes, it is. But you don't need to toot your own horn. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you." He turned to her with a cat-like grin before wandering over to her desk.

"I know. I'm just amazing like that. No need to thank me." He heard her scoff before a little giggle escaped from her. _God, she's cute_ , he thought, before shaking the thought away. Not the time.

"So," he said, looking around and spotting...something. "What the heck is that?" Marinette turned to see what he was pointing at before bursting out laughing.

"Ah, that's apparently the dress that's going to make you fall in love with Lila Rossi." Adrien turned to her, horrified and confused.

" _That_ dress? Seriously?" Marinette nodded and pointed to a paper on her desk. "Yeah, she got ahold of one of the earlier versions and tried to blackmail me into making it for her. Little does she know, that's not the final design and of course, I would gladly make her a dress that's going to look terrible on purpose." Adrien almost started to laugh before all of her words caught up with him.

"Wait, blackmail? She blackmailed you?"

"Ah ah ah. _Tried_ to."

"You should have told me! I would have-"

"You really wouldn't have been able to do anything. Besides, it was a stupid threat. Wouldn't have worked anyway."

"Wait, so now she's threatening you? Marinette! Why didn't you tell anyone?" Marinette simply rolled her eyes and dragged him out the door behind her.

"Because it's not important and she's not as powerful as she thinks she is. Besides, if she thinks _that_ dress is going to get you to fall in love with her, I'm not too worried about her so-called threats." Adrien chuckled at that. She was right. As always.

"Anyway, I don't want you to see the rest of the dress until it's finished. It's going to be a surprise!" He looked down at her with mischieve shining in his eyes.

"And how exactly will I know when it's done? You have a habit of being very mysterious."

She smiled up and him and gave him a wink (which made him falter for a second, but he'd deny it if anyone ever asked him about it) before turning a corner.

"You'll know!" she called back to him.

* * *

Marinette's leg was shaking against the barstool she sat on. She had been watching the door all night from the other side of the room, waiting for the moment Adrien would appear. She had managed to keep him away from the dress all week (no small feat either) with promises of extra macarons and croissants from her parent's bakery. She nervously tapped her gold-painted nails against her glass, biting her lip with worry.

Adrien had never been this late to an event in his life, even if it was just a company party.

She glanced down at her drink and watched an ice cube flip. Then waited a few minutes and watched it happen again.

Commotion by the door made her look up. She gasped as she saw Adrien enter looking extremely handsome in a black suit and a green tie. A green that perfectly matched her dress.

She couldn't breathe.

And then, suddenly, she couldn't breathe for a different reason. Lila Rossi, wearing the horrendous dress she made, walked in right behind Adrien and latched on to his arm. And he didn't bother shaking her off.

Gasping, Marinette forced herself to look back at her drink. _This isn't happening_ , she told herself. _I just saw it wrong. Yeah. Yeah, Adrien would never willingly talk to Lila. He hates her as much as I do._

But when she looked back up, she, unfortunately, found that her eyes _weren't_ deceiving her. Although, now that she was actually looking, Adrien didn't look all that comfortable having Lila so close. Even though he was struggling, that small fact made her feel just a tiny bit better.

She slid off her stool and started to weave her way through the crowd, hoping to make it over to him and attempt to save him from the ugly witch. Before she even made it to the dancefloor, a flurry of yellow stopped her in her path. She looked up into the furious eyes of Chloé Bourgeois. Sighing, Marinette lifted her eyes to the ceiling and thought a quick prayer before wearily eying the blonde.

"Hey, Chloé. Did you need something?" she asked as cordially as possible. They had never been friends, and they probably never would be, but they had somehow come to a sort of truce at the end of lycée to not viciously fight anymore. Instead, their relationship was more like jabbing at the other with needles.

"Yes," Chloé said, sniffing and lifting her head up a little higher. "I know that you think Adrien wants to dance with you tonight-" _Say what now?_ " but he's my friend, so I think I will be with him all night. Too bad. Sorry, Dupain-Cheng. Maybe next Christmas."

"Wait...Lila thinks the same thing. Haven't you seen her?"

"Your pathetic attempts to distract me won't work." And with that, Chloé whirled around and marched off to go do...whatever it was that Chloé did when she wasn't ordering people around.

Shaking it off, she continues walking around the room, hoping to reach Adrien sometime before the night ended. He still had to see the dress, after all. When she was mere meters from him, she was stopped again, this time by Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien's stoic ex. Marinette cringed. This couldn't be good.

"Marinette," was all she got as a greeting.

"Um...Kagami." Marinette nodded her head, hoping that this wouldn't take long.

"I know that Adrien and I broke up over four years ago, but I just wanted to let you know that I plan on asking him to be my boyfriend again tonight." Marinette's mouth dropped open.

"Uh-"

"I know that you like him, but you never seem to be able to act, which is the only reason I held off on asking him again for so long. You hesitate. That's your weakness. I never hesitate, and I certainly won't tonight. I've given you enough time." Kagami looked Marinette up and down before raising an eyebrow and sliding off into the crowd.

Feeling dejected, she made her way back to the bar, this time ordering a fireball eggnog instead of the ice water she had earlier. Sitting at the bar, surrounded by "important" co-workers, listening to cheery Christmas music, Marinette never felt more alone.

She looked up only a few times for the rest of the night, and each time, she saw Adrien surrounded by girls talking to him, laughing with him, touching him, just being with him. And it hurt that it wasn't her.

Apparently, it really was too much to just want one dance.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Marinette, Adrien was across the room having the worst night of his life.

It was like all of the women in Paris knew he wanted to ask Marinette for a dance and decided now would be a fantastic time to try and snag a date with him.

He just wanted to see her dress and make her blush. It was so easy to do, and he knew the best way to see that red appear on her cheeks was to compliment her work.

So when he saw her get up from her stool and start walking towards him, his heart skipped a beat. He had been trying to ignore Lila all night and her terrible dress, but it was getting increasingly harder when she kept trying to feel him up.

He watched, helpless, as Chloé stopped Marinette and told her god knows what. Thankfully, it didn't stop her and he kept coming towards him. He was about to shake Lila away and meet her when he saw a familiar face zip past him and get to Marinette before he could. What could Kagami and Marinette possibly have to talk about?

Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't good because Marinette abandoned her quest to find him and headed back to the bar.

He spent the rest of the night trying to get away from the flock of girls that seemed to be constantly hovering around him. He made all sorts of excuses of why he couldn't take them out and made false promises telling them he would inform his father of their existence. When Kagami appeared in front of his face and asked if they could get back together again, he realized why Marinette had stopped trying to talk to him.

"Well?" she demanded, her face close enough to his that he could smell the whiskey she'd been drinking.

"Um, Kagami, we broke up forever ago and...well, we never worked. Neither of us were happy with our relationship. Why do you want us to date again?"

"Because I still love you," was her unoriginal answer, yet it surprised Adrien to no extent.

"I didn't know you loved me in the first place."

"Of course I did. But even since that silly designer got hired, you only ever had eyes for her. It was what made our relationship fail." Adrien wanted to correct her and say that it was doomed from the start, but he held his tongue. His father wouldn't be too pleased if Kagami happened to complain to him.

"Um...yeah. Could we please talk about this later?" He stretched his neck to try to find Marinette over by the bar, and when he couldn't see her, she frantically started searching around the room.

"Oh, are you looking for her? She left a while ago. Didn't look too happy. I heard Chloé really got to her." Adrien frowned down at his ex, knowing that the blonde could never get to Marinette. Not really. That wasn't how the two girls worked.

He felt Lila grip at the back of his jacket and turned to face her. "Adrien, honey," he heard Kagami protest at the pet name, "I'm going to go get us another round of drinks. Do you want something stronger? Maybe a rum and coke? Something more festive, perhaps?" Feeling more than uncomfortable, he shook off bother girls and finally managed to squeeze his way through the hoard of females, somehow making it out into an empty stairwell.

Sighing deeply, he pulled out his phone, praying for a text or missed call from his father that would allow him to disappear from this disaster of a night.

Instead, he saw a single text from Marinette. Opening it, he practically feel his heart breaking.

_I noticed you were a bit busy tonight, but I just wanted to say Merry Christmas. See you on Monday._

Marinette never texted this formally, unless it was to a boss or customer, and he was neither. There wasn't even an emoji or silly picture to follow like she usually did.

All he wanted was to dance with her, and instead, he might have accidentally pushed her away for good.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not happy with it, but when am I ever?
> 
> Tell me what you think! And please don't be shy about pointing out any mistakes I made :)


End file.
